TMS - CINCINNATI

August 10, 2000

Thomas Enqvist

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

THOMAS ENQVIST: Yeah, I mean it was a while ago you play to qualify, but that's usually what you do then. I was feeling lucky today. I had a good two pretty easy matches. I mean easy if you look at time-wise. So I didn't really feel tired in the second match.

THOMAS ENQVIST: I felt good playing-wise. I played two good matches in Toronto, but then I got problem in my foot so I had to withdraw in Toronto, and I was not sure if I'm going to play this week or not. But the foot feels better and I was lucky to get through the first one, so I feel good.

THOMAS ENQVIST: I have a piece of bone that's loose in my wrist and that bothers me last week in Toronto and it was a question mark if I'm going to take it away right away or if I'm going to try to play this summer through the US Open and the Olympics, and I decided to, you know, give it a shot and for the moment it's good.

THOMAS ENQVIST: I have a piece of bone that's loose.

THOMAS ENQVIST: In my foot.

THOMAS ENQVIST: Right, no sorry.

THOMAS ENQVIST: Yeah.

THOMAS ENQVIST: I have to take it away, yeah. Hopefully I can do it the end of this year instead of doing it now in the middle of the season.

THOMAS ENQVIST: No, not really like this. It goes pretty quick, if you take it away. You're maybe only away a month or something. But it's a bad time to do it right now. I actually had it one time before, so I know you can play with. Now it doesn't give me any problem today.

THOMAS ENQVIST: Yeah, so hopefully it can stay this way.

THOMAS ENQVIST: Right up here.

THOMAS ENQVIST: Well, the foot like this is not a problem. I don't feel it, anything now. But as long as the bone stays and doesn't shift, it's no problem.

THOMAS ENQVIST: Well, I think you don't see -- of course it's important because it was very hot out there today. But in this kind of field you don't expect any matches. You just concentrate on the first one and you when you get to the end of it, then you have the next one to concentrate on. Of course it helps that it was really easy, the first one. So you can get ready for the second one.

THOMAS ENQVIST: I don't know. This is one of my favorite tournaments actually. I usually play pretty good here.

THOMAS ENQVIST: I don't know. You have to ask them about that.

THOMAS ENQVIST: I think this tournament, this surface and this time of the year is a good time for me. I like to play in the hard court season. It's a surface that I think suits my game the best. And usually in the past years, I've done pretty well here.

THOMAS ENQVIST: Yeah, I think you feel more positive when you come to a place that you know the surface and conditions suit your game and you have been playing well there in the past. I think all players feel like that.

THOMAS ENQVIST: I think it's about the same.

THOMAS ENQVIST: Yeah. They use a different ball now. They use the Wilson ball. I think, if I remember right, it's usually ...(Inaudible.) I think it's a little bit different because I think Wilson is a little bit faster, a little bit harder. But that's the only difference.

THOMAS ENQVIST: It's pretty medium.

THOMAS ENQVIST: No, you learn from it. A lot of tournaments are like this. All the players out there now, anybody can beat almost anybody. You have to be 100 percent in every match to win. If that's not the case, you know that you have to be prepared to win. It doesn't matter if somebody is out.

THOMAS ENQVIST: No, it's been okay. I think in the beginning of the year I had this problem with my elbow in Australia. After that, I've been fine.

THOMAS ENQVIST: I've been having a little bit bad luck with the timing of my injuries. I think a lot of players are injured. In my case, I haven't had a lot of injuries but the timing seems very, very bad. A few times, I mean big tournaments and then I don't have anything for the rest of the year. So hopefully, if I get injured, the timing is going to be a little bit better.

THOMAS ENQVIST: I feel good. Yeah, I feel good. I hit the ball well and I look forward to tomorrow.

THOMAS ENQVIST: I think it's -- obviously I was really disappointed last week to have to withdraw in the third round there. You appreciate to play this week. I didn't really expect it in the middle of last week. It's a lot of fun to play this week. Hopefully it's going to stay like this.

THOMAS ENQVIST: Well, I always have to go. When I withdraw from Toronto it didn't look good. Luckily, it's an injury that comes and goes. ...(Inaudible).

THOMAS ENQVIST: Yeah. I took three days off.

THOMAS ENQVIST: Just practiced a little bit. Nothing drastic.

THOMAS ENQVIST: Sunday afternoon it felt pretty good. That was the first time I...(Inaudible).

THOMAS ENQVIST: Yeah, I hit with him -- I was 14 or 15. I remember that very, very good.

THOMAS ENQVIST: I know his old coach a little bit. He called me up and asked me if I wanted to hit with Bjorn. I think I couldn't sleep for two nights.

THOMAS ENQVIST: He called me, the old coach of Bjorn, who I knew a little bit and he asked me if I wanted to hit with Bjorn. It was one of my biggest thrills I think.

THOMAS ENQVIST: Oh, yeah. Yeah.

THOMAS ENQVIST: It was a lot of fun, yeah.

THOMAS ENQVIST: Yeah, he was very, very nice. He inspires you I think. He inspires you to go on, practice harder. It was a nice moment.

THOMAS ENQVIST: Not really. Not really. But I just hit with him. I actually hit with him two times after that so it was a lot of time.

THOMAS ENQVIST: Yeah. (Laughing. )

THOMAS ENQVIST: When I see him but I don't know him that well.

THOMAS ENQVIST: No, no.

THOMAS ENQVIST: I did not, no.

THOMAS ENQVIST: I think one reason for sure. Tennis was a huge thing when I grew up. I watched every time I had a chance to watch him on TV or just watch tennis. He was a big sports hero in Sweden when I grew up. Me and my brother are big sports fans so he was one of my heroes for sure. That's why we get into sport.

THOMAS ENQVIST: I don't know. He was a big reason why I think for sure.